Ebony Comedies Studios (Chicago, Illinois)
USA /
Illinois /
Chicago /
Chicago, Illinois
World
/ USA
/ Illinois
/ Chicago
film/video production studio/facility, historical layer / disappeared object
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North California Ave. at the dead end of West Medill Ave., Chicago
Active 1915-1919
Located in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago, Ebony Comedies was one of the country's leading producers of what was known, at the time, as "race movies." It opened its doors in 1915 as Historical Feature Film Company. Because the company was owned by white men, which was common for “race movie” companies of the era. However, the films themselves had all black directors, writers, and casts. The movies were filled with every Negro stereotype known in an effort to appeal to white audiences as well as black.
After the 1916 release of D.W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation," which caused the resurrection of the KKK, the black community turned on them and their reputations suffered. If an effort to stay viable, in 1917 the white owners hired two black men to run the company for them and changed its name. African American producer Luther J. Pollard was taken on as a partner and acted as the company president. His brother, Frederick Douglas “Fritz” Pollard, was the talent scout. Fritz would later become a professional quarterback and the first black professional football coach.
Another of the stock players was Sam Robinson, brother of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. Pollard’s goal was to produce comedies that showed Negroes in dignified comedy roles without any of the “chicken stealing and watermelon eating.” Their films are considered by historians to be historically significant representation of black entertainment of the era.
However, the company’s reputation was too far gone for the company to survive. The old films were released with the new company name and though white audiences loved them, black audiences were still outraged. The new pictures did not live up to the standard that Pollard envisioned, and the Chicago black press called for a boycott.
In 1919 the doors closed.
Between 1915 and 1919 they produced approximately 30 films.
streamline.filmstruck.com/2014/07/03/if-i-were-offering...
normanstudios.org/blog/2017/01/17/the-rise-and-fall-of-...
lutherjpollard.blogspot.com/
Active 1915-1919
Located in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago, Ebony Comedies was one of the country's leading producers of what was known, at the time, as "race movies." It opened its doors in 1915 as Historical Feature Film Company. Because the company was owned by white men, which was common for “race movie” companies of the era. However, the films themselves had all black directors, writers, and casts. The movies were filled with every Negro stereotype known in an effort to appeal to white audiences as well as black.
After the 1916 release of D.W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation," which caused the resurrection of the KKK, the black community turned on them and their reputations suffered. If an effort to stay viable, in 1917 the white owners hired two black men to run the company for them and changed its name. African American producer Luther J. Pollard was taken on as a partner and acted as the company president. His brother, Frederick Douglas “Fritz” Pollard, was the talent scout. Fritz would later become a professional quarterback and the first black professional football coach.
Another of the stock players was Sam Robinson, brother of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. Pollard’s goal was to produce comedies that showed Negroes in dignified comedy roles without any of the “chicken stealing and watermelon eating.” Their films are considered by historians to be historically significant representation of black entertainment of the era.
However, the company’s reputation was too far gone for the company to survive. The old films were released with the new company name and though white audiences loved them, black audiences were still outraged. The new pictures did not live up to the standard that Pollard envisioned, and the Chicago black press called for a boycott.
In 1919 the doors closed.
Between 1915 and 1919 they produced approximately 30 films.
streamline.filmstruck.com/2014/07/03/if-i-were-offering...
normanstudios.org/blog/2017/01/17/the-rise-and-fall-of-...
lutherjpollard.blogspot.com/
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 41°55'26"N 87°41'52"W
- Former Path of Ogden Avenue 3.8 km
- A Century of Progress site 9 km
- Former Hawthorne Works 9 km
- Former Site of the Union Stock Yards 12 km
- World's Columbian Exposition site 16 km
- Clarke 42 km
- Maynard 45 km
- Original Tolleston 46 km
- The Patch 47 km
- Original Liverpool 52 km
- Logan Square 0.1 km
- Bucktown 1.9 km
- Avondale 1.9 km
- Hamlin Park 2 km
- Wicker Park 2.6 km
- North Center 2.8 km
- Humboldt Park 3 km
- West Town 3.3 km
- Lincoln Park 3.9 km
- Lakeview 4.6 km